Science?

05Sep07

Description, analysis, action.

Dewey was a pretty smart guy, with his theory on how to process life’s experiences and all… these three steps take me back to my not-so-far past, when I was 17 years old and taking AP Biology… scraping together lab reports with a bit of scattered and inconclusive data. If I remember correctly, there was one lab that sticks out in my mind as one that went without a written report. I will write it now.

Description:
The lab experiment was supposed to teach us the process of chromatography using different solutes and solvents. The teacher had us draw black lines on 2 skinny pieces of paper, one with a Vis-a-vis, and one with a Sharpie. As Vis-a-vis markers are water soluble, and Sharpies are not, we used different solvents to dissolve the inks and separate the color particles. We placed a small amount of water on the first strip, and a small drop of ether on the second. Yes, ether… the old-time anesthetic. No, the room was not ventilated. My teacher is not known for her brilliant moments. So, the colors raced up the paper and my brain raced up to the ceiling… at least that’s what it felt like. My lab partner soon realized that I was not my normal self and looked after me the rest of class, and into lunch until he turned me over to my friends.

Analysis:
Well, what happened? The colored particles separated according to molecule size. The two markers use different dyes to make their black inks. I was somewhere between high and grounded.

Action:
I decided that I didn’t trust my teacher so much after that. She went down a few points in my book. There was always an odd tension between us. I better be careful when I get around to teaching…

Now, getting back to 276. I learned a couple things yesterday:

1. I’d totally lose the stick game if I ever played it.
2. I still can’t catch Geoff’s papers.

[RACHEL]

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